
Making Space for the ‘Irrational’ Practice of Anthropology in Libraries
Author(s) -
Donna Lanclos
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
canadian journal of academic librarianship
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2369-937X
DOI - 10.33137/cjal-rcbu.v6.34621
Subject(s) - rationality , irrational number , work (physics) , argument (complex analysis) , space (punctuation) , sociology , frame (networking) , epistemology , computer science , engineering , medicine , philosophy , mechanical engineering , telecommunications , geometry , mathematics , operating system
In this article, I extend the argument for open-ended exploratory, anthropologically informed, qualitative work in libraries that Andrew Asher and I began with “Ethnographish” (2016) and further explore and explain the paucity of open-ended exploration in library assessment and engagement work with the frame of rationality. I argue here that open-ended, exploratory anthropological work could be the kind of irrational work that can help library workers escape the neoliberal cage of rationality. If libraries are to be institutions that do not just mitigate but actively fight marginalization and inequality, we need to deeply interrogate the structures that insist on rational approaches to libraries and library work.